Page 50 of Impetuous

“And Aunt Ardis,” Cassandra added.

“Who cares about that?” Hart put in scornfully. “The only thing that’s important is the treasure.”

“Yes! The Spanish dowry!” Georgette exclaimed, obviously quoting, and clasped her hands together ecstatically. “Thank heavens I decided not to go down to dinner. Mama had told me that I could, as it was a special occasion, but after spending all that time with Miss Moulton, I thought I simply could not bear it any longer. So I told Miss Pritchard that I would rather eat with Miss Olivia and the twins, and I told Miss Moulton that I had to eat supper in the nursery with the other children.” She grinned irrepressibly. “I was so glad I did. Olivia and Hart and Crispin told me all about Margaret Verrere and the Spanish dowry and how you are searching for it. I want to help. May I?”

“Certainly. If it’s all right with your brother.”

“Oh, Philip won’t mind. He’s a wonderful brother!” Her eyes shone. “Whenever Grandmama and Uncle Robert get all prissy about how Mama allows me too much freedom, Philip always tells Mama to ignore them. I know he would let me.”

“Wonderful. The more minds on this, the better, I say. Did Olivia show you the map we found?”

“No, I couldn’t get in your case!” Olivia cried, looking wounded.

“That’s right, I locked it.” Cassandra reached inside her bodice and carefully unpinned the key which she had attached to her chemise when she dressed for dinner. “Perhaps I am too careful, but after what I heard tonight…”

“About the burglary?” Crispin cried. “Isn’t it capital? Georgette told us all about it—how someone was searching the library for that book we need.”

“We don’t know that he was searching for that book. We only know that he went to the library.”

“What else could he want there?” Crispin asked reasonably. “This is turning into a slam-bang adventure.”

“Personally, I thinking finding the treasure would be ample excitement for me,” Cassandra told him, “without throwing in a thief, as well.”

The other four seemed to think this attitude poor-spirited, but Olivia reminded her brothers that Cassandra was, after all, old, and everyone found this reason enough to excuse her behavior. Cassandra opened the box and showed Georgette the map. She wrinkled her brow over it just as they had, saying that it looked like nothing familiar to her. She pored over the pages in the diary where the Neville portion of the map was mentioned, but, fascinated as she was, she, too, had no idea what the “Queens Book” might be.

Cassandra soon shooed the children out of her room so that she could go to sleep. She was feeling quite weary, but she knew it was as much from a malaise of the spirit as from the long journey they had made. Hearing that Philip did indeed have a house for his illegitimate children, as rumor had said he did, had made her feel quite low, confirming everything her aunt had said about his libertine ways. The kisses they had shared, the caresses, had meant no more to him than an opportunity to snare another female, to add another heart to his collection—although obviously one’s heart was not what he was interested in.

Occupied with such blue thoughts, Cassandra’s mind drifted for a long time between sleep and wakefulness, and when she did at last go to sleep, she was bothered by fitful, restless dreams. She awoke the next morning feeling little more rested than when she had gone to bed the night before.

Downstairs, she found only Georgette and Olivia at the breakfast table, starting on their second helpings. Georgette and Olivia had by now become fast friends, apparently, and Georgette greeted her with the happy news that her governess, Miss Pritchard, had agreed to take the girls on an outing for the rest of the day.

“We are to have the carriage and go to Downham Market. Life is so much more interesting when one has guests.”

“Where are the twins? Are they going, too?”

Olivia looked horrified at the notion. “No! It is a shopping expedition. They would be a nuisance. Besides, Sir Philip promised them that the head groom would give them a tour of the stables when they get back.”

“Get back?”

“Yes. They’ve gone with Philip to see the boys at Silverwood.”

“Indeed?” Cassandra still felt shock at the way Georgette and her mother spoke so casually about Philip’s blatant indiscretions.

Georgette nodded, then looked a little anxious. “You don’t mind, do you?”

“What? That he take Crispin and Hart with him? No, I am grateful to him for that. I am sure they are ecstatic.”

“There are some who would not like their brothers playing with children like that. They would find it improper.” Georgette made a face. “Mrs. Carter in the village says that it’s a disgrace to even have those children living here, that they are a bad influence.”

Cassandra’s dislike of injustice came welling up. She had worried about the impropriety of Sir Philip taking the boys to his mistress’s house, but she would not think of condemning the children as unfit playmates simply because of the circumstances of their birth. “That’s a horrid thing to say, as if it were those poor children’s fault.”

“That’s what I think. Mama says that she is quite proud of Philip, for most men ignore poor children of that sort, and they wouldn’t have had a chance in life if Philip had not taken them in.”

“I’m sure that is true.” Cassandra had to admit that Philip had done the decent thing to acknowledge the children as his and to take care of their upbringing. Many men denied their bastard children, leaving the woman and child to fend for themselves. Still, Cassandra could not quite understand Lady Neville’s seeming pride in having her son flaunt the numerous products of his licentious ways. Surely she could not be indifferent to the fact that her son was a lecher.

There were footsteps in the hall behind Cassandra, and she knew from the grimace that touched her sister’s face who the new arrival was.

“Georgette!” Joanna cried enthusiastically. “How wonderful to see you again. And where is your dear Mama?”